Why should we learn programing..

"Why teach programming or computing at all?”  That’s a great question! Here are some of my top reasons:

1. To understand our world. Computer science curriculum is that Computer Science is a science like all the others. We learn Chemistry because we live in a world with chemical interactions. We learn Biology because we live in a world full of living things. We learn Physics because we live in a physical world. We should learn Computer Science because we live in a digital world.

2. To study and understand processes. computer science is the study of process, and many disciplines need people to know about process, from managers who work on logistics, to scientists who try to understand molecular or biological processes. Programming automates process, which creates opportunities to simulate, model, and test theories about processes at scale.

3. To be able to ask questions about the influences on their lives. computers and computing algorithms were going to control important aspects of our lives. If we don’t know anything about computing, we don’t even know how to ask about those algorithms. It shouldn’t be magic.  Even if you’re not building these algorithms, simply knowing about them gives you power.

4. To use an important new form of literacy. Computing is a whole new medium. In fact, it’s human’s first meta-medium — it can be all other media, and it includes interactivity so that the medium can respond to the reader/user/viewer. Computing gives us a new way to express ideas, to communicate to others, and to explore ideas. Everyone should have access to this new medium.

5. To have a new way to learn science and mathematics. Mathematics places a critical role in understanding our world, mostly in science. Our notation for mathematics has mostly been static equations. But code is different and gives us new insights. Many programmer, and others have shown us how code gives us a powerful new way to learn science and mathematics. Everyone who learns mathematics should also learn computing, explicitly with programming.

6. As a job skill. The most common think for teaching computer science in the world is as a job skill. The original Code.org video argued that should learn programming because they have a shortage of programmers. That’s just a terrible reason to make every school child learn to program. Not everyone is going to become a software developer, and it doesn’t make any sense to train everyone for a job that only some will do. Learning to program gives us new skills that have value in the economy. It’s a social justice issue if we do not make this economic opportunity available to everyone.

7. To use computers better. This one is a possibility, but we need research to support it. Everyone uses computers all the time these days. Does knowing how the computer works lead to more effective use of the computer?  Are we less likely to make mistakes? Are we more resilient in bouncing back from errors? Can we solve computing problems (those that happen in applications or with hardware, even without programming) more easily?  I bet the answer is yes.

8. As a medium in which to learn problem-solving. Finally, computer programming is an effective medium in which we can learn problem-solving. Just learning to program doesn’t achive problem-solving skills, but we can use programming if we want to teach problem-solving.